Talking about Time: A conversation with Meda DeWitt
The ReMembering and ReEnchanting Podcast
In this episode, Sara Jolena talks with Meda Dewitt, a Lingit traditional healer, ethno-herbalist, educator, and artist from the Tlingit culture. Together, they explore themes of the perception of time in western and Indigenous cultures, the importance of storytelling, and the impact of seasonal changes on life. This includes the contrast between Native time and what Meda refers to as "managed time," emphasizing the need for balance. The episode concludes with reflections on the personal and the collective in a rapidly changing world.
Subsections
00:00 - Introducing Meda DeWitt
02:11 - Cultural Identity and Language
05:40 - Understanding Time in Indigenous Cultures (with a focus on Tlingit)
10:09 - The Nature of Storytelling and Memory
18:40 - Cycles of Life and Nature
25:31 - Native Time vs. Clock Time
27:47 - Navigating Between Clock Time and Organic Time
31:04 - The Impact of Managed Time on Well-being
35:28 - The Reckoning of Time in a Capitalistic Society
38:12 - Finding Balance in a Modern Context
43:05 Embracing Mortality and the Value of Time
51:39 - Moving Between Times
Websites:
Wilderness.org/imago
SanctuaryAnimism.org
Facebook.com/sanctuaryanimism
YouTube.com/@sanctuaryanimism
Note: Tlingit culture is a matrilineal society from what is now referred to as Southeastern Alaska. "Tlingit" means "people of the tides." Alaska has 229 federally recognized Alaska Native tribes, more than any other U.S. state, representing distinct indigenous cultures including the Yup'ik, Inupiaq, Athabascan, Tlingit, Haida, Eyak, and Aleut (Unangax/Sugpiaq). These peoples are deeply tied to their ecosystems. The major Alaskan ecosystems include: tundra, taiga (boreal forest), coastal rainforests, marine ecosystems (including the Gulf of Alaska, the Bering Sea, Chukchi Sea and the Aleutian Islands), mountains/glaciers; and wetlands and freshwaters.
The image used is from Fairbanks, Alaska, on the winter solstice. It depicts the short height and the narrow range of the sun on the winter solstice, when Fairbanks receives 3.5-4 hours of sunlight. Photo: Todd Paris courtesy of University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Learn more about Sara Jolena Wolcott and Sequoia Samanvaya
Music Title: Both of Us
Music by: madiRFAN
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